local communities

As the Georgian government moves ahead with its plans for increasing the country’s hydropower capacity, local communities are being sidelined in the process of compensation payments.

The controversial Ukrainian agribusiness giant Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) tries to handle community relations by putting publicity spin on the outcomes of a long overdue discussion with civil society.

Enver Hoxha, the former communist dictator in Albania, ruled in such a bizarre way that he found himself ostracised by other communist rulers. Among others he flooded the country of 3 million people with 750 000 concrete bunkers. Those bunkers were built ignoring people, nature but also military rules - as some of them were facing each other.

The Court of Appeal of the Cherkasy region in central Ukraine sided with community activist Nina Martynovska from the Ratseve village who was brutally beaten because of her opposition to the construction of poultry farm facilities by Peremoha Nova, a subsidiary of Ukrainian agribusiness giant MHP.

The court decision from April 12 thus confirmed an earlier ruling by the Chyhyryn district court that the incident was related to “a conflict [...] over the chicken farm” between the victim and the attacker.

At a meeting with the directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Bankwatch campaigners read a statement from Italian communities opposing the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the last leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, a 3500km pipeline intended to bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.

We reproduce the powerful statement here.

Life is a living hell for families in Vreoci, Serbia, where lignite excavators have almost reached their houses. As the mine’s financier, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development must not allow Serbian state utility EPS to create a fait accompli that leaves locals with scraps and without home.

This article first appeared on the Re:Common website.

It was the end of February and the scene is Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. During an official meeting, the Italian government was severely criticised for the considerable delays in the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

A Romanian coal mining region is writing history today as representatives from unions, the coal industry and environmental organisations are coming together for the first time to discuss their communities’ future – with a common goal in mind.

85 river and dam activists from 40 countries and all continents gather in Tbilisi, Georgia this week to share experiences about their efforts to protect the world’s rivers and join their struggles against destructive hydropower projects.